Let's imagine our suffering self that's overwhelmed with the suffering of the world,
As well as our own suffering.
We have to be alive to that,
No matter how small it may seem compared to other people's suffering.
We have to start there.
We breathe in the dense,
Heavy clouds of suffering,
Of this little one in our hearts,
This little version of ourselves that is the suffering one.
Breathe that in into the vast ocean.
From that vast ocean,
We exhale joy,
Filling up that suffering one with bright,
Spacious,
Billowing clouds of this joy,
Seeing it soaking in.
And once more.
And now we imagine somebody,
Maybe a face we've seen in the news of somebody suffering in Ukraine.
We don't want them to suffer.
We want to take it away.
And so we breathe in that experience of suffering as those heavy,
Dense,
Stormy clouds right through our hearts,
Into the vast ground of being.
And on the exhale,
Through our compassionate intent,
We can draw the joy of that ground of being and send it,
Again through our intent,
Into that person,
The billowing bright clouds soaking into them.
Their face begins to soften and change.
And we breathe again.
The joy for them,
Soaking into them the joy of now and always and the relief of their suffering.
One more breath.
And now we breathe in the suffering of all the Ukrainians,
Those who have escaped,
Those who haven't,
All of them.
Coming in all at once as those stormy clouds through our compassionate hearts,
Into the compassionate ground of being.
And through our compassionate intent,
The power of our mind can direct the joy from that vast ground into all of those people who are suffering.
And another breath.
And then we think of all of the refugees and all of the people in war-torn areas all over the world.
Those that are in that state right now and in recent years,
We breathe in all of that suffering through our hearts into the ground of being.
And on the exhale,
Great,
Vast joy through the lens of our hearts and then out into all of them.
Bright billowing clouds enveloping them all,
Sinking into them and bringing them deep,
Lasting joy.
And then another breath for all of them,
As well as anyone who's been in that sort of situation ever,
Because time isn't actually linear.
And so that would include everybody.
We breathe for everyone,
Breathing in the suffering through our hearts into the ground of being.
And then on the exhale,
Through the lens of our compassionate heart and the power of our compassionate intent in our minds,
Out to all and everyone.
And one more breath.
Imagine if everyone or a critical mass of people were doing this,
Even just this,
Regularly.
What a difference it might make.
And so we dedicate our efforts tonight to the peace and relief of suffering,
Happiness,
And the full waking up of everyone.
